ÇALĞi aləTLƏRİ DÜnyani valeh ediR

Saadet Abdullayeva
AZERBAIJANI 
MUSICAL  INSTRUMENTS 
FASCINATE THE WORLD

The author expresses her deep gratitude to 
Mr. Ulvi Mutallim ogly Kasimov
for the help rendered in the publication of the book
      
      
Scientific editor: Alla Bayramova
PhD, Associate Professor, Honored Cultural 
Worker of the Republic of Azerbaijan 
 
Abdullayeva S.A. Azerbaijani musical  instruments fascinate  the world. 
Baku, «NURLAR» Publishing-Printing Center, 2016, 288 p.
The book describes the musical instruments spread in Azerbaijan since the 
ancient times and are widely used today: string – tar, saz, kamancha, oud, ganun; 
wind – balaban, zourna, garmon, ney, tutek; membraneous – naghara, gaval and 
gosha-naghara. The information is provided about their history of development, 
area of distribution, etymology, manufacture and structure. It covers the technical, 
artistic and expressive possibilities, especially the sound during the performance 
of folk and professional music. The names of the well-known performers of the 
national musical instruments and titles of the works written by the composers 
especially for these instruments are mentioned there.
The collection of the musical instruments of the State Museum of the 
Azerbaijani Musical Culture makes up the main visual basis of the book.
The miniatures of «Khamsa» by Nizami Ganjavi, the paintings 
of Shohrat Alekperov and the patterns created on the basis of «buta» – 
one of the symbols of Azerbaijan, were used in the decoration of the book.

CONTENTS
Musical  instruments are  wealth  of the people 
110
                    
The ancient musical instruments of Azerbaijan 
113
A  musical instrument of global importance 
122
Saz is an inseparable instrument of the Azerbaijani ashigs 
129
The most melodious instument 
135
A fascinating musical instrument 
139
The Azerbaijani ganun 
145
Balaban is a musical instrument of the turkish world 
149
Heralding of the people’s joy and victories 
155
The Azerbaijani garmon 
160 
Shepherd’s pipe sounds in orchestras and ansambles 
167
To the rhythms of the naghara, gaval and gosha-naghara
173
Instrumental  performance of mughams in the context 
of the succession of traditions 
180
Musical instruments and ethnocultural connections of peoples 
186
Reference 
189

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110
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS  
ARE WEALTH OF THE PEOPLE
Musical instruments are an important attribute of civilization and serve 
as an indicator of the level of culture. They are presumed to have emerged 
as signal tools associated with the human labor activity. The instruments 
performing the pure musical function appeared a little later. Naturally, they 
were quite plain in the beginning. As the people’s way of thinking and the 
level of culture evolved, the musical instruments became more sophisticated: 
the number of strings on the stringed instruments increased, while the strings 
were gradually tightened against the different-shaped bodies and necks; holes 
were opened in the trunks of penny whistles and pipes, and tongues or whistles 
inserted into them; membranes made of animal leather were pulled over the 
round wooden, earthenware or metal bodies of the percussion instruments of 
different size, and were stricken against with the drumsticks, hands or fingers 
of both hands. The self-sounding instruments, which were initially represented 
by only two stones, gave rise to different bells, rattles and cymbals made of 
copper and materials of vegetable origin [61].
The appearance and perfection of new musical instruments is the result of 
development of human thought and esthetic taste. This centuries-old process 
has caused the gradual formation of the style, music, tonality and genres of the 
people.
 During many centuries, the Azerbaijani people have created wonderful 
samples of music [1,13,42,46], sounding in time of peace or in the defense 
of the motherland. Various musical instruments, which more fully convey the 
melody, were created for their sounding [3,15,48,51,52,55,64,65]. At first, 
those instruments were played by the individual artists – dilettantes, and then by 
professionals. In the process of development of the civilization, various music 
genres and folk groups were created and for their musical accompaniments, 
string, wind, percussive and self-sounding instruments were used. 
The material and cultural samples [1,3,7], discovered during the 
archaeological excavations in the territories inhabited by the Azerbaijani 
people, the works of the musicologists of the Middle Ages [6,75,77], the works 
of poetry [3,65], the samples of miniature painting [49], the wall painting, 
diaries of the travelers [3, 73], the museum collections [3,22] – all of them are 

AZERBAIJANI MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FASCINATE THE WORLD
111
the evidence that the people loved to compose, sing, listen and dance songs, 
music and mugham with the accompaniment of various musical instruments in 
Azerbaijan. The richness of folk music and variety of the musical instruments 
are the evidence of this fact.  We found 32 string, 23 wind, 16 membranous and 
17 self-sounding instruments in the written monuments of medieval Azerbaijan 
[3]. 
The musical instruments of Azerbaijan are distinguished for their own 
peculiar appearance and sounding, because they are national property and 
main cultural bearer of our nation. We can judge about the musical thinking 
and aesthetic style of the nation by basing upon the design and sounding of the 
instruments. Because each of them was created in accordance with the social, 
cultural and religious needs.   
Our traditional musical instruments compose various musical groups. A 
singer (khanende) playing the gaval and musicians who play tar and kamancha 
compose renowned mugham “triple” called sazanda; ashighs playing on saz, 
musical ensembles where musicians play balaban and zourna including the 
musical ensembles where musicians play naghara gained great popular passion. 
In the picturesque plains, majestic mountains, towns and villages – in all 
parts of Azerbaijan even now we can hear unique sounds of tar, saz, kamancha, 
ganun, oud, gentle sounds of balaban, ringing voice of zourna, groovy sound of 
garmon, tutek and ney. In the northern and north-western regions of Azerbaijan, 
dambur (plucked two-stringed instrument) is used, and in Nakhchivan, they 
use yan-tutek (side-pipe) and tulum (bagpipe), which musicians play for hours.
The venerable musicians became famous by their own way of playing the 
musical instruments. And there were plenty of these musicians in Azerbaijan.
The players who play folk musical instruments are included in the 
orchestra and ensembles of folk musical instruments [37, 69] and play the 
major works of the composers (concerts, suites) along with folk melodies as in 
the symphonic orchestras [38].
The musical instruments of Azerbaijan give national character to the 
sounding of symphony orchestras in the operas and operettas. The composers 
created concerts sonatas, plays and other pieces of music for such musical 
instruments like tar, kamancha, saz, oud, garmon, ganun, balaban, ney, zourna, 
tutek, naghara and gaval. 
Plenty of musicians became famous by their way of playing the musical 
instruments, and many of them got blue ribbons and honors. Manufacturers of 
the musical instruments are also famous by their skills. We can find them in 
many parts of Azerbaijan. 

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Musical instruments and musicians are the most favourite subjects of 
literature and fine arts. They have been dedicated poems and described in the 
examples of painting, graphic, sculpture and applied art [5].  
The craftsmanship and performance art of tar, the Azerbaijani mugham 
performed to the accompaniment of tar, kamancha and gaval, the Azerbaijani 
ashigs with saz in their hands and the national holiday Novruz celebrated with 
the participation of the artists with various musical instruments – all of these 
from the musical culture of Azerbaijan were included in the Representative 
List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO. Chovgan – a traditional 
Karabakh horse – riding game accompanied by the musicians playing the 
zourna is included in the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.  
In recent years, it has been done a lot to restore the forgotten folk musical 
instruments and to include them in the ensembles. A number of instruments 
were returned to life [73]. The Ensemble of the Azerbaijani Musical 
Instruments of the restored musical instruments created by Majnun Kerim has 
been successfully acting for over twenty years.  
The Azerbaijani singers-khanende and musicians travel abroad very often 
and represent our rich musical culture. Foreign listeners also show great 
interest to our national music instruments. Some of them play different musical 
instruments. For example, the American Jeffrey Werbock plays perfectly 
mughams on kamancha, tar and oud. Jeffrey Uinborg plays the kamancha 
and Marc Lupuy, professor of Lille conservatoire in France, plays the oud. 
The joint performances of the Azerbaijani and foreign musicians arouse great 
interest. All this indicates that musical instruments bring together the culture 
of Western and Eastern world.
The ensembles and orchestras of different folk musical instruments are 
everywhere these days: in secondary and high schools, cultural places, etc. 
Perhaps there are a lot of musicians playing the national instruments in each 
amateur talent group of our country.
The success of our professional musicians is also undeniable. The best of 
them represent the Azerbaijani music art in various countries. The Azerbaijani 
people are right to admire them and be proud of their achievements. 
Restoration and improvement of musical instruments and training of 
the students to play them in secondary schools and in institutions of higher 
education are the pressing problems of the Azerbaijani ethnomusicologists, 
organologists, teachers and manufacturers of instruments in our days.
Musical instruments personify the thoughts, hope, taste and feeling of beauty 
of a nation and are important indicators of the spiritual world of the nation. 

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113
THE ANCIENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS  
OF AZERBAIJAN
Gaval-dash (“stone-tambourine”) is standing on two stone piers – natural 
lithophone  located  near the north-eastern foot of Djingirdag mountain in 
Gobustan National Historical-Artistic Preserve included into the list of 
Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in the south and southwest of Baku 
city at a distance of 60 km. When you hit it with small stones, the sounds 
resembling a metal clang are extracted. We can extract three different sounds 
depending on the area of the rock struck. According to the view of the famous 
archaeologist and ethnographer Ishaq Jafarzada (1895-1982), this stone served 
as a musical instrument.  Such a stone was also discovered on the lower terrace 
of Boyukdash mountain, 7 km southwest of Djingirdag [74]. The ancient tribes 
performed ritual dances with rhythms played on the stone – tambourines. These 
dances were represented on famous petroglyphic drawing in Gobustan. The 
pictures are referred by the archaeologists to the period from the Mesolithic – 
Stone Age (10-7 thousand years BC) to the Middle Ages. 
There was found an image of a person with string instruments in hands 
on the ceramic dishes, which were found in an ancient Azerbaijani settlement 
called Jigamish, and which are about 8 thousand years old. This person is 
surrounded by musicians, dancers and applauding audience. Another image 
shows us a singer holding his hand behind his ear (typical pose for khanende) 
and musicians playing such instruments as chang, shahnefir, gosha-naghara 
and tebil (drum) [43]. 
There exists another image of a fire-worshipping mugh priest who plays a 
stringed instrument similar to the saz on the bronze bowl dated IV century BC 
discovered in another Azerbaijani settlement called Ziviya. 
The people notified the approaching of the enemy by ringing of the zeng 
(bell) in the Fortress Zenggala which is located on the hillside near the village 
of Boyuk Karamurad of Gadabay district.  
During the archaeological excavations conducted in the vicinity of Shatyrlar 
village near Barda city, they discovered a fragment of the ceramic ware made 
in IV-III centuries. BC, depicting a woman playing the chang(harp). 
The whistle called burbug dated IV-III century BC, from Gumbez place, 
is stored in the local historical museum of Agstafa city. It is a miniature crock 

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114
pointed downward. The same burbugs in the shape of birds were discovered 
on the therritory of Gabala, Ismayilli and Guba districts (bronze age) as well 
as in Baku city near the rampart of the Old city (Icheri sheher) (XII-XIII) [3].
 The figure of a man playing the wind instrument called balaban was 
engraved on the silver ring which was discovered in Garatepe place of Ujar 
district. The age of this ring is more than two millennia [23]. 
A copper zeng and spherical gumrov (a rattle) made of clay with three round 
stones inside were discovered in Gabala region during the excavations [3]. 
Bronze pendants with rattles and bells (called zingirov) (the end of II – the 
beginning of I millennium BC.) were discovered during the excavations near 
Mingachevir city, Gadabay district and Dolanlar village of Khojavend district 
[1]. 
Sinj resembling a pair of round copper plates were discovered in two stone 
graves of  V century in Yedditepe place of Fizuli district [23].  
Ancient percussive instruments (now they are in the museum of Hishkedere 
village) were discovered in Masally district. One of them – tebil  is an oak 
stump carved inside with a small hole on the side. Sounds are taken by beating 
with sticks on one-piece upper edge of the stump. Another instrument 
has wooden pear-shaped body, onto which the skin is stretched. The third 
instrument sinj represent convex bronze disc and equipped with a rope in the 
center to be kept in hand [47]. 
Images of dancers where one is holding a handkerchief, and another – 
shakh-shakh (castanets) were engraved  on silver dishes of  Sassanid era (III-
VII) which are stored in the Hermitage (St. Petersburg). 
We can find the names of musical instruments gopuz (string), zourna, boru 
(trumpet), duduk (wind), naghara, davul, kus, tebil-baz (membranous) in the 
parts of the heroic epos “The Book of Dede Gorgud”, the plot of which relates 
to the VI-VII centuries. 
The valuable sources for the study of musical instruments existed in 
the Middle Ages in Azerbaijan, are the works of the classical poets such as  
Katran Tebrizi (1012-1081), Khagani Shirvani (1126-1199), Nizami Gandjevi 
(1141-1209), Ahvadi Maragai (1274-1338), Assar Tebrizi (1325-1390), Gazi 
Burkhaneddin (1344-1398), Yusif Maddah (XIV), Imadeddin Nasimi (1369-
1417), Jahan-shah Hagigi (1397-1467), Nematullah Kishvari (1445-1525), 
Habibi (1470-1520), Shah Ismail Khatai (1487-1524), Muhammed Fuzuli 
(1494-1556), Abdi bay Shirazi (1515-1589), Muhammed Amani (1536-1610), 
Fedai Tebrizi (XVI), Govsi Tebrizi (1568-1640), Rukneddin Masud Mesihi 
(1579/80-1655/56), Saib Tebrizi (1601-1677)  and others.  

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The poem “Dastani-Ahmed Harami” of unknown author (XIII), 
geographical work  “Ajaib ad-dunya” (“Wonders of the world”, the beginning 
of  XIII), the historical work “Tarikh-i Alemarai-Abbasi” (“History of Abbas 
who decorated the world”,1616) of Iskandar Beg Munshi (1560-1634) contain 
the names of the musical instruments, the number of the strings and playing 
holes, the description of the hull shape, material, component parts and ways 
of playing [3]. 
The manuscript of “Kitabul-Advar” treatise (“The book about cycles”, 1333-
1334, Bodleian Library, Oxford) of the prominent Azerbaijani musicologist 
Safiaddin Urmavi (1217-1294) includes the image of the oud with 5 double 
strings and 7 keys on the short neck. In his another treatise called “Risaleyi-
Sharafiya (“The book about the nobility”), the oud is included in the most 
perfect instruments. There is a picture of a chang with 34 strings in another 
manuscript “Kitabul Advare” (Cairo, the National Library). Among citrous 
instruments, Safiaddin Urmavi distinguishes the qanun with trapezoidal shape 
and nuzhat with a rectangular shape of the body. His contemporaries claim that 
he designed two instruments – nuzha (al-nuzha) and mughni (al-muganni) [77]
The forms and types of musical accompaniment, how to configure and 
extract audio, tricks and technique of playing are reviewed in the works of 
Abdulgadir Maragai (1353-1435), the Azerbaijani musicologist, composer, 
poet, singer and musician [6,77]. He devoted some chapters of his “Maqasid 
al-alhan” (“Aims of melodies”) and “Favaid-i ashar” (“Ten benefits”) treatises 
to about 40 musical instruments.
Abdulgadir Maragai also describes the musical instruments invented by 
him. Such as, chini sazi kasat was consisted of 76 porcelain bowls of different 
size, they were placed in 3 rows and their height decreased in one direction. 
These bowls were filled with water and when somebody hit them we could 
hear sounds of different diapasons. The instrument sazi alvah similar to the 
xylophone consisted of 46 copper plates disposed in 3 rows: 10 plates in the 
first row, and second and third rows were consisted of 18 plates. According 
to Abdulgadir Maragai, the instrument kanuni-murasseyi mudavvar was also 
mentioned in the works of the previous musicologists, but at Abdulgadir 
Maragai’s time it was forgotten.  For its second birth, he used a hollowed tree 
trunk and pulled up 36 strings on the opened side of that trunk. When the body 
was moving with the help of two ropes, which were fixed to the instruments, 
the lever reached the strings and gave sound.  
The structural features of arganun, barbat, ganun, kamancha and tanbur 
are characterized in the treatise “Behjatul-ruh” (“Beauty of the spirit”, XVII 

Saadet ABDULLAYEVA
116
century) of Safiaddin Abdulmomin. The names of such musical instruments 
like chang and chagane are mentioned in the chapter, where musical circles 
were figuratively explained in poems. Ganun, chang, argan, kamancha and 
ney were characterized in “Guide to Eastern music” which reached us in the 
manuscript of XVIII century. Also tanbur (tamboura) 5 strings and 29 frets 
was described in details and also ney and its variety (batdal, davud, shakh-
mansur, bolaahenk, mustahsan, hatti-bend, sipurde) were described there.  
The roots of oud, chang and nay  (transverse  flute) were characterized 
in the fifth chapter of “Advar” (“Circles”, XVIII century) of the anonymous 
Azerbaijani author [18].
A lot of foreign travelers left us information about the musical life of the city 
citizens including the musical instruments. For example, the Venetian travelers 
and diplomats Caterino Zeno and Iosafat Barbaro, who visited Azerbaijan in 
1471-1473 and 1474-1478, the Italian traveler Pietro dela Vale (1617), the 
Russian merchant Fyodor Kotov (1623-1624), a German scientist and traveler 
Adam Oleary (1636 -1638), the Turkish traveler Evliya Chelebi (1647, 1655-
1656), a Dutch sailmaker and traveler Jan Struys (1670-1672), the German 
naturalist, physician and traveler Engelbert Kaempfer (1683, 1684), the Dutch 
artist and archaeologist Cornelius de Bruin (1703), the Russian diplomate 
Artemiy Volynskiy (1716), the French writer Alexandre Dumas,pere (1858, 
1859), etc. [3]. 
A plenty of miniature pictures with scenes of musical life are on the pages 
of the manuscript decorated by the artists of Tabriz school directed by Sultan 
Muhammad (1470-1555) and other schools.  According to the miniatures, we 
can judge about a musical instrument, its different constructive features, the 
manner of performance and ensembles [5].
Basing upon the above mentioned sources, we can speak about the musical 
instruments, which were common in the medieval Azerbaijan.
String instruments (chordophones)
Although it was suggested in the press about the invention of tar by Abu 
Nasr al-Farabi (873-950; he was born in Turkestan) [81], an outstanding 
musicologist, philosopher and encyclopaedist, this instrument was widespread 
just in Azerbaijan and Iran. It is assumed that the tar appeared in Iran at the 
epoch of  Gajar dynasty as a result of the evolution of  other Iranian  instruments 
in the XVII-XVIII centuries [53,85], or it was brought  from the Caucasus at 
the end of XVIII century [28]. 

AZERBAIJANI MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FASCINATE THE WORLD
117
But the poems of Baba Tahir Uryan, Farrukh Sistani, Gatran Tabrizi, 
Khaqani Shirvani, Assar Tabrizi, Muhammad Fizuli, Govsi Tabrizi, Rukneddin 
Masud Mesihi, Sahib Tabrizi, Gasim bey Zakir and Seyid Azim Shirvani, show 
us that the tar existed in XI, XII, XIV, XVI-XIX centuries.  
The body of oud had pear-shaped or round shape. On the pegbox bent back 
were located 10-11 tuning pegs corresponding to the number of the strings. 
Barbat was larger than oud by having 7 silk strings fixed to the pegbox. 
Though shahrud was similar to the oud, it was longer and had 10 strings. 
Each long string and adjacent short strings were paired. In the drawing of Al-
Farabi “Kitab al-Musiqa” (The Book of Music) in the list of Cairo, shahrud 
is shown in the form of a quadrangular sounding box with a large number of 
stretched strings [33]. 
The body of many stringed (more than 30) chang represented an arched 
and flaring resonator. The upper part of it was sharply curved. A long pin was 
fastened to the body in order to fasten the instrument to the floor during playing. 
The lower part of the body of the rubab was covered with leather, and 
the top was covered with the wooden board. The different types of rubab were 
used with 3-6 silk strings. Sometimes one of the strings was replaced with a 
silver string.